Saturday 6 February 2021

Ice on the Grapevine (Hunter Rayne Highway Mystery #2) by R. E. Donald.

A lorry driver pulls over for a regular mid-journey vehicle check and discovers a frozen corpse in the trailer. A nightmare for any truck driver, still these things happen even when double-manning. This incident leads to the drivers being arrested and their transport manager enlists the help of ex-RCMP trucker Hunter Rayne to assist in their release.

 

This second book in the series can be read as a stand-alone and thankfully the reader does not need any back story. I found this book to be a refreshing mystery with plenty of characters and sub-plots. The story progressed at a steady pace and there was a lot of warmth between the characters.

 

The trucking parts provided a good backdrop for this story and I loved the little details like cabotage. Where this story scores though is the relationships people develop with others and not just the two legged sort. We meet Peaches, a Pomeranian who, like most dogs, love to travel.

 

I enjoyed the chemistry that developed between the characters, Hunter warming to Peaches, romance among the adults and sexy scenes to make you smile. Angie was a big surprise, one of those scenes that once you read you can’t unread. As for the couple who after the third time shared a can of Budweiser, well - laughing out loud - I would be very disappointed if you offered me half a can of beer after performing three times. I would want a full can and three biscuits, thank you.

 

I liked how this mystery unfolded with lots of possibilities about how the victim ended up in the trailer and all the likely people who may have wanted him off the scene.

 

I think this character driven mystery is a GOOD 4 star read and is considerably better than the first book in this series, Slow Curve on the Coquihalla.

 

Ice on the Grapevine was written in 2011 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.

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